I took some sand cloth and cleaned the copper line up real good. I fastened the saddle valve on firmly. This type valve uses a allen wrench to pierce the tubing. When done you use that wrench to tighten down the valve and top it off with the included cap.

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More from the swamp:As you can see I have a small bottle of r134A gas I got from somewhere. I turned the machine on and the pressure in this instance was in the negative 10 PSI of the blue low side gauge. I barely cracked open the gas and add little by little till i got it to settle down and stay put at 5 PSI. If you had no gauge you could slowly add a bit till you got 4 ounces in there and quit. Look at the evap for frost on every coil but not all fat and built like your photo.

About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

That ice machine is still kickin out some ice cubes over in Wheelerville by Big creek Lake by the way. Freezers and ice box's all go by the same rule of thumb: Slowly adding freon and keepin it around 5 PSI. Anything above 5 and you may as wee toss it. over charging is just as bad as an under charge. There ya go 3 ways to load the gas. Amp draw, Looking at the evaporator coils, and gauges. gauges? We don't need no stinkin gauges.

About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

That last pic was a small ice box I fixed using a $3 epoxy kit I bought from Wally world. The pressure for the mini fridge was the same as any ice box. 5 PSIThe last picture is a AOL junk mail case I got in the mail. It's nice clean surface made a nice platform for mixing the epoxy on. Who says AOL ain't worth messin with?

About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

When you add the saddle valve and make the pierce listen fer a sec to see if any gas is left in the machine. If you have gas in there the fix is on. Slowwly add some gas in till you get er back up to snuff. We know you have SOME gas in there because she does frost a little. If yall get no sign of any gas in the system then hunt for signs of leaks in areas where leaks occurs and that is usually in the evap area where the defrost heater is closes to the evaporator. The system will be compromised when no gas is detected. That means you must find the leak and repair it THEN remove the air from the system because air in my neck of the woods has water in it and when freon hits water ice forms and cloggs the artery's of the machine. You gotta vacuum the system out. Then you can replenish the gas with a bit of success, otherwise if air gets in there yall are in trouble, so you gotta be careful when attaching hose be sure and purge the hose a tad bafore connecting to the saddle valve like a doctor shoots a little outta the needle before givin yall a shot. Be sure when adding freon to not allow any air in.

« Last Edit: May 11, 2011, 10:10:24 PM by JWWebster »

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About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

Naw. I would go with plain freon. After ya add a tad it could be years before the system needs more. I would only use that stuff in the event of a terrible leak that I could not find.

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About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL

Ok. Just to make sure I don't make a stupid mistake. I'll turn off the fridge, then add the saddle valve, make sure the hose has been purged of air. Hook up the refrigerant. Turn on the fridge and let it run for 5-10 min. Then I'll let refrigerant in for about 5 seconds, give it about 10 min and then check the evaporator coils. If coils not frosted completely then repeat. Does this sound about right? Thanks.

About the icons: The beer is tip link, if a tech saves ya some money buy em a 6 pack. The small green square=personal message. The green dot is a link to my web page on appliance repair and other general BS I love to post. The letter sends me email.I love fan letters! LOL